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Western Jamaica Needs a Forensic Pathologist - Sinclair

Release Date:

Wednesday, June 17, 2015 - 11:15

Minority Leader in the St. James Parish Council, Councillor Charles Sinclair, is calling on the Chairman of the Western Regional Health Authority (WRHA), the Ministers of Health and National Security, to immediately make available to the service of Western Jamaica, a Forensic Pathologist to undertake and clear the severe backlog of cases for which autopsies have to be done.

The Councillor for the Flankers Division, who is also an Attorney-at-Law states that, “There has been no one assigned to Western Jamaica for almost two months now and the region has to be dependent on a pathologist coming from Kingston to perform the required task, and this at a time when murders have seen an alarming rise in Saint James, Saint Elizabeth and other western parishes."

“Persons who have been tragically killed by criminal activity over one month ago have not been scheduled for autopsy. This inordinate delay is not only causing untold grief to the bereaved family in not being able to lay their loved ones to rest, but is also having a serious impact on criminal investigations relating to the death, as well as delaying the Court hearing for anyone who may be arrested and charged for the death." said Sinclair.

Sinclair went on to say; "For a nation that prides itself as a developing country, aspiring to first world status, this failure on the part of the Government is far from acceptable. If the WRHA and the Ministries and Ministers under whose portfolio the responsibility of ensuring that such a basic position is filled and functional cannot satisfy this need, then maybe they should be assigned elsewhere."